Queen Margaret

January 7, 2012

Cindy's been working ridiculously hard over summer and is spending the first few weeks of the new year out in the field doing real science*. Meanwhile, I'm at home doing a pretty poor job of keeping this blog ticking over. So when friends wanted to go out for dinner in Fitzroy, I made sure we went somewhere new. Thanks to Claire and Joyce, Queen Margaret has been on my radar for a while - I'm a sucker for good pizza and I've been looking for something to replace Bande Apart in my affections.

Queen Margaret (named after Queen Margherita who in turn gave her name to margherita pizzas) is going for the same trendy pizzeria vibe as Pizza Meine Liebe or D.O.C. It's got a simple and stylish fit-out and is already doing a roaring trade - which is a small problem, as things get pretty noisy. Lots of the buzz about QM has focussed on the three kinds of margherita that they offer, but I like a bit more excitement on my pizzas, so we didn't sample them (see Claire's post for the full margherita run-down).

Instead, we started with the butternut (Pumpkin, Mozzarella, Spinach, Chèvre, Pine Nuts and Thyme, $18)

This was excellent - with creamy chevre and sweet pumpkin with big spinachy patches and a sprinkling of pine nuts for texture. The bases are excellent of course - not too bready but not super crunchy either, a nice balance.

Inspired by our favourite I Carusi pizza, the second pizza of the night was the broccolini (Broccoli, Mozzarella, Chili, Parmesan, Tomato, $17).

This didn't quite measure up to the I Carusi version - they were a little lighter on the chilli, and I really missed the tang of the lemon juice. Still, broccoli on a pizza is a surprisingly good idea.

Queen Margaret have a great range of booze on offer and service was friendly and capable. They offer gluten-free bases (for an extra $2), but vegans are going to have problems finding anything to suit their needs. The prices are a bit steep, but two pizzas comfortably fed three of us. I was pretty happy with the Queen Margaret experience - it's definitely good enough to drag Cindy along to when she's back in town.

* She has taken the camera and photo-processing skills with her, so you're stuck with my awful phone photos.

____________

Queen Margaret hasn't had much blog-love beyond the reviews at melbourne gastronome and Mel: Hot or Not that put it on our radar.

____________

Queen Margaret
356 Queens Parade, Fitzroy North
9482 5988
Vegie pizzas $15 - $19
http://www.queenmargaret.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a flat entryway into a fairly spacious restaurant (although the front area gets a bit crowded up with takeaway customers. Ordering and payment takes place at the tables.